Dancing keeps the heart healthy and happy, but it's also a fabulous form of exercise for people with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease causes the tremors most people are familiar with, but it also causes rigidity of muscles, and stiffness and slowness of movement.

Dancing offers a way to integrate both the mind and body to make both work better. It also helps people with balance, sequencing, rhythm and spatial coordination.

The idea to use dance as a therapy for Parkinson's patients began in 2001, when the Brooklyn, New York, Parkinson group approached members of the Mark Morris Dance Group. They asked the dancers to create a program that would specifically address the issues of Parkinson's. Dancer David Leventhal became one of the original teachers in that collaboration that was named Dance for PD. On Sunday he will be in Barnstable to give a local presentation and dance class.

The free movement class for people with Parkinson's, their partners, caregivers and friends is being sponsored by the Parkinson Support Network of Cape Cod. Support network founder and president Joyce Ginouves learned about Dance for PD when she and her husband, Paul, who has Parkinson's disease, attended the dance classes while wintering in Naples, Florida, a few years ago.

"They had live music and it really gets you going," Ginouves says. "It was so much fun."

Ginouves says that in addition to the motor skills enhancements that dancing provides, dance also addresses side symptoms that PD patients must cope with, like depression and isolation.

"One of the really difficult things with Parkinson's patients is that they are socially isolated," she says. "They don't want to go out, they feel embarrassed, and they don't want to be seen in public. This gets them out with their peers so they're comfortable and they're having fun."

Since its inception, Dance for PD has spread to more than 100 communities in nine different countries. It has become an important resource for those with PD, and provides a way for them to enjoy time with their partners or caregivers. It's a program that Ginouves would like to see spread on Cape Cod.

The Parkinson's Support Network of Cape Cod has been providing educational support programs and caregiver programs for seven years. It hosts monthly meetings in Bourne, Chatham and Orleans. The Orleans group does a dance program every month as part of its support group, with teachers trained by Leventhal. Ginouves is planning to start a new support group in the greater Mashpee area next month, and she hopes to include Dance for PD as part of that group as well.

"Orleans has been very successful and because of the dance they have really grown their group," she says. "A lot of people come because it's fun."